Board of Supervisors appointed Zoning Ordinance Action at a Oct. 5 meeting. Times-Mirror/Sydney Kashiwagi
For nearly four years, Loudoun's Board of Supervisors has appointed representatives from the community to serve on a group tasked with guiding supervisors and staff through the county's rigorous zoning policies and amendments.
The Zoning Ordinance Action Group (ZOAG) considers consequential zoning and planning decisions that impact the county's growth, including the development of mini-cities, the expansion of data centers and zoning decisions about new uses for rural, agricultural and residential land. Also impacted: the county's noise ordinance, bed and breakfasts, breweries and much more.
ZOAG members list their official titles on the group's documents as either "ZOAG member" or as a representatives from their respective organizations. But a look at their applications or Conflict of Interest Statements shows that the majority of members have ties to major land-use firms representing some of the biggest projects in the county.
"I am a Principal at Bowman Consulting, and I am a member of other organizations such as [the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association], [the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties] among other businesses or professional organizations in Loudoun County," reads the Conflict of Interest Statement by Patrick Quante, ZOAG's chairman.
Quante's company has represented numerous applications around the county - from the massive CyrusOne data center to the Evergreen Commerce Center and Paul VI Catholic High School. It was also responsible for the design of a major part of the AOL headquarters campus in Dulles.
"As such a member of one or more businesses, professions, occupations, or groups the members of which are affected by the review, recommendation, and preparation of amendments to the Revised 1993 Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance" I believe that I am able to participate in the review, recommendation, and preparation of amendments to the Revised 1993 Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance fairly objectively, and in the public interest," Quante's COIA statement reads..
Since the group was formed in 2012, nearly all of the members on ZOAG have represented similar companies.
"I think objectively ... the membership probably had more representatives from the development industry per say then citizens at large or the preservation industry," said former ZOAG Chairman Milton Herd, the owner of Herd Planning & Design who served on ZOAG from 2012 to 2014.
Who are they?
Current ZOAG members include Louis Canonico, ZOAG's vice chairman and vice president of the land planning firm Christopher Consultants' special services division - a company that has worked on the Waterside mixed-use development proposed near the Silver Line Metro since 2012, as well as Dulles 28 Centre, the 308-acre retail and office park in Sterling.
ZOAG member Colleen Gillis is a go-to land-use attorney and partner with Cooley LLP's real estate group. She has helped secure approvals for major developments, including One Loudoun, Dulles World Center and Willowsford. Gillis has also sat on a number of the group's subcommittees dealing with data centers, mixed-use districts, planned development, limited farm brewery and agricultural processing and more.
The county provided the Times-Mirror with 17 other Conflict of Interest Statements relating to ZOAG.
According to ZOAG's bylaws, the group is comprised of no more than 15 Board of Supervisors-appointed members who supervisors deem "qualified, including, but not limited to, individuals with knowledge and experience in zoning, planning, land development, land use law, and economic development; and may be requested from business and civic organizations."
At least half of ZOAG's members are appointed for a term of four consecutive calendar years, while half of its members are appointed for a term of two consecutive calendar years at the beginning of the year.
The group's bylaws list at least eight business and civic organizations supervisors typically pool representation from, including the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, NAIOP, NVBIA, the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Dulles Area Association of Realtors.
"[ZOAG] is a special interest group, to the extent that, I've been in this business since '73, and so I've got a lot of knowledge that I can share and you can say that I'm an interested party, and I am," current ZOAG member Eric Zicht said. "But where are you going to get that kind of experience?"
Zicht has served on ZOAG since 2012 and has been a part of the group's Bed and Breakfast, County Inn & Banquet Facilities, Steep Slopes, Floodplain Overlay District and Rural Uses & Historic Structures subcommittees.
Zicht is listed as an "individual" on ZOAG, but is owner of local engineering, urban planning and land development firm Zicht & Associates, PLC, which has worked on a number of projects in the county.
"[The general public] wouldn't bring any knowledge to the table. They might bring a viewpoint to the table, but the other is for the most part, they have very little interaction with zoning in any case, so it's not a priority to them," Zicht said.
ZOAG was formed in 2012 at a time when the previous Board of Supervisors sought to make the county more "business friendly," Supervisor Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian), chair of the board's Transportation and Land Use Committee, said.
After a stakeholders group was formed, they eventually worked up a list of hundreds of difficulties commercial developments faced. The board then created ZOAG to help them look at the issues, work with staff and develop "options" to be put forward that could help "improve the process" and encourage more commercial development.
"I do believe we're seeing some of the benefits of those," Volpe said.
Zoning ordinance amendments initiated by ZOAG approved by the Board of Supervisors include ZOAM 2015-0001 which allows for telecommunications monopoles and towers as special exception use on properties owned by a government entity of public utility in the planned development housing and residential districts, as well as ZOAM 2014-0007, which amends regulations for air conditioners in required yards and setbacks.
Prior to ZOAM 2015-0001's approval, Tony Calabrese - a partner at Cooley LLP who was representing Milestone Communications - at a ZOAG meeting on May 14, 2014, directly asked the group to add to their work plan what the ZOAM 2015-0001 directs.
ZOAG agreed, and in the summary of the 2014 meeting, Joe Paciulli - president and CEO of the consulting engineering firm Paciulli, Simmons & Associates, Ltd -- listed at the time as an "individual" member of ZOAG, was tasked with writing up the official request to the Board of Supervisors to add it to their work plan.
A year earlier on July 10, 2013, Packie Crown, a principal senior planner also from Bowman Consulting and frequent presenter at the Board of Supervisors meetings, listed at the time as a member from the Dulles South Alliance, updated ZOAG on a DSA Board of Directors meeting. The summary states that ZOAG and planning staff were told a letter would be sent to supervisors voicing DSA's concerns over the commercial light industry zoning district portion of the ordinance they had issue with.
By the end of the meeting, Crown volunteered to be a part of the CLI subcommittee.
Nearly a year later at a May 7, 2014, supervisors voted to approve ZOAM 2013-0007 amendments to the Commercial Light Industry (CLI) Zoning District, an amendment which encourages additional economic development opportunities in the Route 50 corridor -- an amendment which Crown's subcommittee worked on.
ZOAM 2013-0007 outlines permitted uses in CLI district such as museum or exhibition facilities as well as special exception uses including continuing care facility, congregate care facility, adult assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
Since ZOAM 2013-0007 was approved, Crown has personally represented at least two rezonings and special exception applications in the CLI zoning districts on behalf of Bowman Consulting including the Shoppes at East Gate and the Waltonwood South Riding Continuing Care Center, both of which have been approved.
Does ZOAG's membership present a conflict of interest to the county?
Supervisor Volpe insists there have been no conflicts of interest in any of the amendments ZOAG members have worked on which have had any impact on a project from their respective companies.
"The committee is handled the same way the other committees and commissions are all handled. They have public disclosures, they have a [Freedom of Information Act] briefing, all of that," Volpe said. "So everything has been done with the utmost of transparency."
Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large), who took over the Board of Supervisors after ZOAG was created, thinks although it is important for the action group to have knowledge about land use and zoning, she has concerns about the group's membership.
"I am, to be honest, a little concerned that there are members of ZOAG who ... actually have applications that come before our board and that some of the recommendations they make on ZOAG could impact their own application," Randall said, though she would not elaborate on which members she had in mind.
Randall says so far she has not noticed any "obvious conflicts," but has followed up with concerns about the group.
Going forward, Randall says she would like to have more citizen representation on ZOAG, but stressed that it is up to the Board of Supervisors to chose the group's leadership.
"The truth is these are board initiated members and so if we're going to have more citizens representation, it's up to the board to do that," Randall said. "We can say yes or no to anyone."
In September, Volpe nominated Gillis as the LCCC representative; Canonico, Quante and Kevin Ruedisueli as at-large representatives; Brent Campbell, the current principal at Campbell Brook, LLC, who has also previously served as a regional manager for Toll Brothers, as the Dulles Area Association of Realtor representative; and Mark Hassinger, president of WestDulles Properties and former development director at Lerner Enterprises --- two major commercial real estate companies -- as the NAIOP representative.
Supervisor Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg) nominated Norman Myers, president of an appraisal firm in downtown Leesburg, as an at-large representative, and Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) nominated Georjan Overman, one of the board of directors of the Loudoun County Bed and Breakfast Guild and long-time Virginia attorney with experience in administrative and historic preservation law.
Supervisors voted 7-0-2 on Sept. 22 with Higgins and Randall absent for the vote to confirm the applicants to ZOAG with terms set to expire Sept. 30, 2020.
See which ZOAM's the group has worked on here:
ZOAM-2013-0002, Amendments to Article VI: Joseph Paciulli, Collen Gillis, Ed Zigo, Eric Zicht, Patrick Quante
ZOAM-2013-0008, B&B, County Inn & Banquet Facilities: Edward Gorski, Eric Zicht, Georjan Overman, Jean Brown, Milton Herd
ZOAM-2013-0003, Data Centers: Colleen Gillis, David Culbert, Joseph Paciulli, Kevin Ruedisueli, Linda Erbs
ZOAM-2013-0007, Commercial Light Industrial (CLI) Package 2: Louis Canonico, Eric Zicht, Kevin Ruedisueli, Packie Crown
ZOAM-2013-0004, Special Exception Uses to Permitted Uses: Linda Erbs, David Culbert, Louis Canonico, Packie Crown, Kevin Ruedisueli
ZOAM-2014-0003, Limited Farm Brewery and Agricultural Processing: Colleen Gillis, David Hubbuch, Georjan Overman, Jean Brown, Lou Canonico
ZOAM-2014-0004 Steep Slopes: Eric Zicht, Linda Erbs, Mark Hassinger, Patrick Quante, Edward Gorski
ZOAM-2014-0006, Amendments to Noise Ordinance: Pat Quante, Joseph Paciulli, Louis Canonico
ZOAM-2015-0003, Floodplain Overlay District: Eric Zicht, Linda Erbs, Mark Hassinger, Patrick Quante, Edward Gorski
ZOAM-2015-0002, Home Occupations: Kevin Ruedisueli, Louis Canonico, Mark Hassinger, Joseph Paciulli, Colleen Gillis, Mark Trostle
ZOAM-2015-0005, Mixed Use Districts: Kevin Ruedisueli, Louis Canonico, Mark Hassinger, Joseph Paciulli, Colleen Gillis, Judith Meany
ZOAM-2015-0006 Rural Uses & Historic Structures: Packie Crown, David Hubbuch, Eric Zicht, Georjan Overman, Kevin Ruedisueli, Mark Trostle, Malcolm Baldwin, Gem Bingol
ZOAM-2016-0008, Planned Development-Town Center (PD-TC): Kevin Ruedisueli, Louis Canonico, Mark Hassinger, Joe Paciulli, Colleen Gillis, Judith Meany